Apprentice Patient Care Advisor

The successful candidate will be working as a key part of the Practice team, working alongside administration colleagues and supporting the clinical team to manage a busy caseload and deal with a wide range of health needs in the primary care setting. 

Main duties and responsibilities:

The duties and responsibilities to be undertaken by members of the Practice administration team may include any or all of the items in the following list. Duties may be varied from time to time under the direction of the Office Manager/Operations Manager, dependent on current and evolving Practice workload and staffing levels:

Reception Duties:

• Maintaining and monitoring the Practice appointments system
• Acting on electronic tasks to book appointments, deliver messages to patients, process electronic referrals.
• Processing personal and telephone requests for appointments, visits and telephone consultations and ensuring callers are directed to the appropriate healthcare professional
• Processing electronic requests
• Processing incoming requests for medical reports, prescriptions or other enquiries and ensuring they are forwarded to the correct staff members for completion
• Taking and recording requests for home visits ensuring full details of need are recorded and checking that the address and telephone number is correct.
• Dealing with requests for emergency treatment, either in the surgery or in the patients home and passing on promptly to the duty doctor.
• Receiving patients consulting with members of practice team
• Initiating contact with and responding to requests from patients, other team members and associated healthcare agencies and providers
• Handing completed repeat prescriptions to patient and checking names and address.
• Answering the telephone and conveying messages
• Accepting requests for repeat prescriptions, checking regularly both the electronic and paper routes for repeat prescription requests
• Maintaining electronic log of telephone messages
• Filing results and any other relevant documents in patients' notes
• Maintenance of patients' notes including starting a new wallet when required and dividing the contents in a logical manner
• Charging the appropriate amount for private work.
• Helping with the sorting of filing in new medical records in order that they are in the form used in the Surgery
• Dealing with requests for test results.
• Ensuring that all other requests for information or queries and entries on the computer and if not completed at the end of your shift, are handed over to an incoming member of staff for completion and vice versa.
• Taking details of requests for medical certificates of any kind, insurance forms and any others requested and dealing with them efficiently and promptly.
• Referring patient suggestions/complaints/comments directly to the Practice Manager for further discussion.

Administration:

• To have a thorough knowledge of all Practice procedures.
• To work in accordance with written protocols
• Filing post in medical records
• Processing and distributing incoming mail
• Taking messages and passing on information
• Filing and retrieving paperwork
• Generating template letters requesting patients attend for follow-up.
• Arranging transport for patients where appropriate.

Computer:

• Computer data entry/data allocation and collation; processing and recording information in accordance with Practice procedures
• Registrations of new patients
• Process patients change of address.
• Scanning of mail onto computer system and completing workflow.
• Processing daily Pathlinks appointments ensuring patients have appointments booked according to instructions given by GPs when results received.
• Maintaining a basic knowledge of repeat prescriptions so that should it be necessary, you can issue from the computer record in line with Practice policy and protocol.

• Communication skills
• IT skills
• Attention to detail
• Organisation skills
• Customer care skills
• Administrative skills
• Number skills
• Analytical skills
• Logical
• Team working
• Non judgemental
• Patience

• English GCSE, grade 4 (Essential)
• Maths GCSE, grade 4 (Essential)